Alien::SVN is a wrapper to install the Perl bindings for subversion,
also known as SVN::Core.
If your module needs SVN::Core it can depend on SVN::Core normally,
then CPAN clients can resolve the dependency normally via Alien::SVN.
This is particularly useful for programs like SVK.

It comes with a copy of Subversion 1.8.11 which it will compile but only installs the Perl and Subversion libraries.
They will be installed to your Perl library,
not your system library.
The subversion binaries will not be installed.